Does the exposure to cigarette smoke influence the colour stability and mechanical properties of different orthodontic elastic ligatures? - in vitro study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the colour stability and mechanical resistance of orthodontic elastic ligature exposed to cigarette smoke.

Methods: Four commercial brands were used: Aditek® (GA), Eurodonto® (GE), Morelli® (GM) and Orthometric® (GO). Eight elastic ligature rings (for mechanical analysis) and eight 5×5mm fragments of the material (for colour stability analysis) were separated from each commercial brand for the control group (C) (n=64) and experimental group (E) (n=64).